Vision, organisational skills mandatory to run sport: Sumariwalla

Focus on grassroots on the one hand and elite on the other, says Sumariwalla

Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla on Monday pointed out how the change in approach in running athletics in India since his appointment as the head of the federation has brought dividends.

He said a lot of effort and time went into making a hero in athletics.

“Somebody running a federation should have passion for sport, should be able to give time, and have patience. It took us 17 years for Neeraj [Chopra] to get a medal. He needs vision and organisational skills. Anybody who fits into that can run a federation — it need not be a politician, a sportsperson, or a bureaucrat,” Sumariwalla said in a discussion on sports federations at the Sportstar National Sports Conclave here.

Revealing how he changed the functioning of the athletics federation, he said, an ecosystem needed to be created. Focus on grassroots on the one hand and elite on the other. “If you don’t have elite athletes, you don’t have somebody to look up to,” he said.

“We shortlisted events and brought in foreign coaches. The reason being that their knowledge of sports science, sports medicine, etc, is far better than that of our coaches,” he said.

Paralympian Deepa Malik, now president of the Paralympic Committee of India, said it took time for her to get acceptance as leader of the committee. “My focus was to keep it athlete-centric. As an athlete, I knew where the shoe pinched, so I have been continuously working on that,” she said.

Rahul Bose, president of the Rugby Federation of India, said love for the players is a dimension of sports administration that is not often talked about.